Let's Speculate: Supernatural 11.03 "The Bad Seed"

Tonight’s episode, written by Eugenie Ross-Leming and Brad Buckner and directed by Jensen Ackles,

begins with Rowena naming her new coven as “Mega Coven” with some witches. In a Macbeth nod we have a double, double, toil and trouble trio and they tell her that Crowley is not dead, as she claims. After they Mean Girl her, Rowena turns up the volume on the Book of the Damned and disintegrates them.

In the Black Darkness Metaphor Hole, Dean gets lost in thought. Sam jars him out of the Darkness hypnosis and Cas notes that Baby Amara Damien is a bad thing waiting to happen. Cas again says God ain’t showing up anytime soon. He’s also chained up because rabid dog spell. As Cas trainspots in the corner, Sam and Dean worry about the worsening of the spell. Back in Captain Hellaroo Dungeon, Crowley’s Jane Eyre says Amara is a quick study. Daddy Warbucks Crowley soothes the young Amara from the big bad God who locked her away.

Rowena is continuing her Avon recruitment for the Mega Coven when Crowley’s minions try to kill her. She escapes and Dean is calling Crowley to get tabs on Rowena, but Crowley lets him go to voice mail. Sam is researching how to find Metatron via Cas’s car, since Metatron apparently stole it. They think Metatron can give them information on the Darkness. During this scene, Castiel starts to seize and the brothers run to help him.

Cas wakes up and he explains his blackout was his inability to control the spell. Cas says he can hear angel radio and apparently they now use 20th century cop drama slang to describe their pursuit of Cas and the “perp”, Metatron. Sam, at that point, comes across the story about Rowena’s escape.

In Captain Hellaroo Dungeon, tiny Amara sees Adult Amara in the mirror, kind of again like a sick fairy tale. Adult Sultry Amara tells tiny Amara that her destiny will become clear as she ages and “they” are mightier than God.

In a bar, somewhere in Earth, the Republicans and Democrats meet secretly…oh, okay, it’s a demon and an angel. I really want to tell a “An angel and demon walk into a bar” joke, but I won’t. So in this episode SuperBureaucracy the middle management supernatural beings discuss how to form a union.

Sam and Dean find one of the witches Rowena was trying to recruit. They bully her into doing a location spell to find Rowena. She sees Rowena packing a bag.

Crowley returns with gifts for Amara: a bloody dress and a kid’s book. She prefers Dante’s Inferno in the original Italian. She says she will do a better job than God. Little Damien child, instead of eating sweets, chows down on her nanny’s soul.

Dean, in a Hawaiian shirt, tries to fool Rowena as a taxi driver. She recognizes him but before she can do too much damage, Sam cuffs her. Back at the bunker, Castiel finds target audience porn on the boys’ laptop and then is seized again. In the Hell headquarters, tiny Amara is eating souls so quickly you’d think she was training for the New York Marathon. Crowley and Amara have a philosophical conversation about the nature of life, God, evil, etc. Tiny Amara seems skeptical of the dichotomies – good/evil, heaven/hell. She thinks Crowley doesn’t see the big picture and then demands more souls.

Back in the bunker, Rowena is trapped in the demon circle dungeon. Rowena and Sam verbally spar before Dean sends Sam to get Castiel so Rowena can save him. Dean and Rowena spar about their deal; Sam runs back in and says Castiel has broken free and he’s gone.

We find Rabid Cas in the alley wandering while Dean and Sam track Castiel via GPS. Rowena provides commentary, rather snarkily, from the backseat. Crowley, meanwhile, is pondering a diorama of the galaxy. Crowley has appointed the demon who didn’t assassinate Rowena to be Amara’s nanny. Crowley tries to figure out a way to manage Amara’s growth.

Rowena reveals that Sam made a deal with her to kill Crowley if she removed the mark. Dean gets irritated about Sam keeping it a secret, but the conversation is halted when they locate Castiel. In the alley, Castiel stalks a woman and tries to attack her. Dean goes to find Castiel as Sam takes Rowena. Castiel runs after the woman and finds her by sniffing her out behind a locked door. Dean is walking and checks out a girl (who tells him to get a life) when he hears commotion. He follows the sound and gets there just as Castiel is choking the woman to death. Dean says that Castiel can beat the spell and he lets the girl go but then Castiel attacks Dean. He beats Dean and is about to kill him when Rowena uncasts the spell. Castiel recovers but Rowena throws Sam across the room (which is his signature move lately) and escapes, but not before taunting Dean.

The final scene is Cas, Dean, and Sam discussing the codex and Rowena, which moves to Crowley finding the new nanny dead and an aged Amara standing in front of the mirror….she turns and smiles, then demands more “food.”

Again, kudos to Jensen Ackles for another wonderfully directed episode.

And next week, the Baby episode!!!!

Questions and thoughts

1. What do you think Amara’s destiny is?

2. Why is Rowena trying to recruit for the Mega Coven?

3. What will become of the burgeoning alliance between the dissatisfied demons and angels?

4. Now that Castiel is healed, will he go after Metatron so he can get his cool car back?

5. Will Dean ever share his disturbing visions of Amara with Sam?

6. What did Amara mean about feeling only emptiness when she eats the souls?

Comments

The Nep Duo strikes again. Why didn't Singer take his wife with him! It's bad enough they are in the writers stable but I hate the fact that they are always given myth arc episodes. Give them a standard MOTW that no one cares if they botch it up. Gawd they are predictable and boring. We get the opening scene with Rowena and the three witches and then not a heartbeat passes and we get practically the same scene once more in the restaurant. Really? A little to like in this. Glad that Amara is growing up so quickly, enough with the little girls.

I had extremely low expectations and even those weren't met. Ah well, at least I prepared myself. I should just get wise and never watch a single episode they write. I'll pretend a real plot was done! Yeah, that's it. It would do so much good for my blood pressure.

If it's any consolation, Arrow was a bit of a mess tonight too. I joked with the hubby, "Oh look, their Brad and Eugenie wrote tonight's episode." And then I saw the work of the real Brad and Eugenie and thought, "All is forgiven Arrow."

Ugh. Sorry, that was just painful to watch. It was a disorganized, choppy mess that pushed SPN back into campy territory. This week's review is going to be interesting.

1. What do you think Amara’s destiny is?

To take the place of God. Which can't be all that bad since God has pretty much abandoned us all.

2. Why is Rowena trying to recruit for the Mega Coven?

Because her ego is as big as her hair. (Sorry, no interest in her motives).

3. What will become of the burgeoning alliance between the dissatisfied demons and angels?

Nothing. Don't get me wrong, the angel and demon enjoying a drink in the bar was my favorite scene of the whole episode. Sadly, I think it'll go nowhere. It's grunts blowing off steam and nothing more.

4. Now that Castiel is healed, will he go after Metatron so he can get his cool car back?

Sam wasn't wrong about the car. Castiel should really get a Ferrari next. Sounds like Heaven is looking for Metatron. Castiel doesn't need to do much at all. They kind of dropped that whole finding Metatron thing, didn't they?

5. Will Dean ever share his disturbing visions of Amara with Sam?

No. Just like Sam won't tell Dean about his deal with Rowena. Or his visions of Hell. Brothers love them secrets!

6. What did Amara mean about feeling only emptiness when she eats the souls?

Human souls are empty. They are always longing for something, wanting something. She can consume every soul on earth and won't be satisfied. It's kind of like eating a bag of carrots when you want chocolate cake.

I loathe the Nep-Duo, but nothing in this script was anything close to being their fault.

Every cringe-worthy moment of this episode (which came at a rapid onslaught of 0.4 cringes per second.) was from how it was presented. How it was acted. How it looked. How it was shot. How it was lit. How it was framed. How it was scored.

Ooh on this one we are definitely going to have to agree to disagree. This script sucked. Typical Nep Duo. I always find myself hoping they have learned from their failures but then it finally dawned on me that they don't view them as failures and it is just their style. And 95% of the time they suuuuuhuck. They have proven their incompetence once more. Gawd I wish Singer would take her with him...

Well, Singer is still working on the show. Just not the day to day stuff as much, he's basically what Kripke was during season 6. Still involved.

I don't see what was wrong with the script. The characters sounded and acted like the characters are supposed to, it moved certain plot points along. I fail to see what was so objectionable, they're writing is no worse than Thompson, but how come he doesn't get any shit?

Honestly underwhelmed. And this may sound mean but I was glad Amara grew up a little, the actress wasn't very good. Lets hope the teenaged one is better. So Amara sucked what looked like demon smoke from those demons. Then they died. I thought the human soul and the demon were 2 separate things.

Edit- I think they did say the meat suits were dead. So eating a twisted demon soul I guess.

Because of the beat down he gave Cas while he was still wearing the MOC. If I were Cas I would've fixed that pretty face up anyway. ;)

I thought the looks on both their faces when Cas said he's hearing voices was amusing.

It's still not clear how much Dean remembers from his conversations with Amara. I'm also not sure how much Sam told Dean about what happened at the hospital. Surely he told him about the cure. I don't think he said anything about having been infected. Will this come up in some way later? He did withhold his working with Rowena, Cas and Crowley. I can understand why but he had to know that one was bound to get out at some point. I'm sure all this will be touched on between them next week. I'm not expecting that convo in Baby is going to cover a lot of past ground though as I think many fans are hoping.

Looks like poor Baby lost not just her back window but also the driverside windows as well. I hope they kept Jensens improvised "Get out of my car!" line! When I first heard about the fact they were doing a Baby episode I thought they might do shots from different time periods but I guess I was wrong. Really looking forward to this one, especially after the NepDuos crapfest tonight. I wish we'd gotten to see more of taxi driver Dean.

HI ALYCAT22 :):):):):):):):):):):):)Thanks for reminding me.That was the best line for me also, ''These voices are not telling you to do anything to anyone, are they....'' [as Dean backs away]:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

I loved where Dean was all "I'm so over your crap" attitude as he knocked Rowenas bag on the floor when he put his feet up on the table. They have her chained to the dungeon chair and shes all HDU and disgusted because of him disrespecting her stuff. ;)

In the first ep it was implied that Sam had told Dean at least some of this because when Cas called Dean (right before the angels bagged him) he said "tell Sam that Rowena escaped with the BOTD" and Dean acted kind of like this was not the giant surprise it would have been had he known nothing about what Sam, Cas, and Rowena were doing.

The bad seed was okey, but I think the boys will never learn to open up to each other. They like to keep secrets from one other. Yes Dean has not share the visions he is having about Amara to Sam. And Sam has not share the visions about hell. And of course Sam did not tell Dean about the deal he made with Rowena. And I also will beat Sam has not told Dean about the reaper he meet at the hospital. Dean is right about one thing around and around we go. Always keeping secrets. The boys will never learn to trust each other. And as for Rowena I do not care for her. Rowena is boring. The character is not impressive to me.

We went from two really amped up episodes, nail biting. seating on the edge of our seats, scary -------- too downhill fast. I was so hoping they would keep the momenteum going. The story has slowwwwwwwwed down and almost stopped. I suppose they thought they were filling in some holes for us by the Crowley/Amara chats and Sam/Dean/Cas/ Rowenna conversations but nah it was just slow.I wish Jensen would get one of those really over the top eps to direct but I suppose they have to give him one where he has very little screen time.

Well we know for sure now Darkness and Amara are the same. I suppose adult Amara is like a conscience guide for young Amara so she doesn't make the same mistakes as before and reaches her full potential.I don't see Amara as all evil ?? I agreed with what she was saying about good/evil needs balance When Amara told Uncle Crowley that the souls semed sad ?? could that be because Crowley was only feeding her demon souls Maybe Crowely is doing this to give her the wrong idea of the human race ??

AHHHHHHHHHH the boys the one thing I really wanted to see was the honesty the trust this season I suppose so much has happened since the darkness was released / Taking care of Cas, Saving the Town / finding the baby ect. ect That they really haven't stopped to take a breath Or a bad situation will come along and kick them both up the bum Come on Boys talk

Dean was beaten sooo badly poor baby, feeling he deserved it after what he did to Cas I just wanted to kiss it better

Loved the Hawaian shirt/hat/glasses that was a change you go Dean.

Thought I liked Rowenna but she was annoying/whiney/pathetic I would have liked a stronger actor in that role

Eugenie Ross-Leming and Brad Buckner Do they think their scrpts are funny ??!! I saw what they were trying to do I think They were trying to produce a light comidic episode ??!! But it came across awkward and silly --- some of the lines were really DUMB

I didn't like this episode (unless I missed something) I have been on such a nail biting high for 2 wks that when I came down I came down with a big thump and it hurt.

AGAIN GREAT DIRECTION FROM JENSEN - HE IS REALLY PROVING HIMSELF AS A DIRECTOR CONGRATULATIONS JENSEN Wish he would be given a better script !!

*shrug* Wasn't bad. Just average really. Certainly didn't take the most boring episode ever title, which belongs to Bloodlines.

However so far nothing beats the 1st episode of this season. 2nd was great, but not as good. Then we sink to this episode. The most exciting part of this episode was when Rowena brought up that botched Deal Sam made. Remind me again why we had an episode for hunting Rowena down for Cas when Sam's struggle last episode was shorter but more exciting? *sigh* Where the hell are those torture visions? I don't care if you tell me which episode. I need something to look forward to! Nothing really exciting is happening atm.

This episode was just the worst ever. Dreadfully bad. Poor pacing, ridiculous dialog ("remember these are witch killing bullets!" and "The MEGA Coven!") and a campy cartoonish feel that made me think more of Tom and Jerry than of Supernatural. There was about 5 minutes of plot spread out into 42 minutes of fluffy juvenile filler. Clearly this writing duo can't take either themselves or this show seriously.

It didn't have a white man sleeping with an black woman who calls him Master, wears a dog collar, actually turns into a dog. They are going to have to work long and hard to be worse than Man's Best Friends With Benefits. Boring is better than repulsive, for me.

I really think Brad and Eugenie think that they are hilarious. For some reason no one has told they just aren't. They are capable of writing a decent (not great) script. So why don't they? Somebody do something to reign them in.

I'll say this again....besides the promo for the next episode...the best part of this episode was the live tweeting between the cast. It was awesome.

That was pretty ....meh. The only thing that saved it for me was Sam's sassy mouth and the fact that Jensen manages to make Jared even more beautiful. Cheekbones anyone? There were a few amusing moments with Castiel, and I liked the interrogation scene. The boys were very in sinc. I don't have a problem with Rowena when she is written well, but tonight was not that night. "Mega coven" was not funny just embarrassing. The angel and demon in the bar were just......anyway......and the whole porn on the computer thing was just ridiculous. The two writers must really crack themselves up when they're writing this stuff, but it does not translate well. I feel bad for Jensen that he got their crappy script and tried to make it work.

Lastly, that whole ridiculousness of bringing up Sam's deal with Rowena. Contrived drama and utterly stupid. Why would Sam have to justify making a deal to kill Crowley? Have they not been threatening to do that for seasons now? He f...ing killed Sarah!!!! Sam DESERVES to kill Crowley. I'm sorry, but is Dean still BFF's with him? And for that matter, when did he have time to bring it up exactly? Oh and just for good measure, hypocrite much Dean????? Hey, Mr. Pot, you can call Sam black, when you start caring and sharing yourself, okay buddy? My only hope for this is that they made it BLATANTLY obvious that Dean was being an utter hypocritical tool so that this keeping secrets thing will be brought up later. Because he WAS BEING AN UTTER HYPOCRITICAL TOOL!

Wow, what a letdown after the first two eps. This one failed on every front. The humor they were clearly trying for was completely flat. The scene with the angel and demon in the bar was awful, I thought. It reminded me of the infinitely superior scene where Zachariah was in the bar drowning his sorrows and talking to the man who'd been laid off. The Sam, Dean, Cas scenes were ok. But Rowena, who I had really begun to like, was terrible here. The "mega coven" joke was not funny and got even more annoying with each repetition. I agree with Leah that the little girl playing Amara was terrible- I don't know if it was the acting or the direction, but there was nothing remotely interesting or scary or chilling about her. And I'm still not really on board with the "souls for food" plot. We had the first two "Sam exits stage right" scenes after no such nonsense in the first two eps. And even Crowley was boring in this ep. I actually don't know that the directing was really that good because not a single scene stood out to me in any way. I think Jensen did a fabulous job in his earlier eps, but I'm not so sure about this one. Maybe the good directing was just dwarfed by the poor script? The only really interesting scene or line of dialogue was when Dean and Cas were counting out God and Sam said "maybe he's not as far away as you think" or something like that. So maybe that plot will be heating up.Oh well, Russ is right two out of three ain't bad, especially when the two were so outstanding.

I agree with you about this ep. It moved at a glacial pace. Girl Amara was not nearly as menacing as infant Amara. She just came across as a fussily styalized and somewhat bratty child. When compared with either of the Liliths, and creepy child from the painting or girl in the wall, this characterization fell flat. I don't mind the souls as food plot, I mean that I am not opposed to it per se, but they've got to explain why a being that existed for eons before humans were ever on this earth needs human souls to feed off of. What did she eat for millennia before humans came along? Until they do that adequately, the whole idea doesn't really work. And I kind of agree with you about the directing too... I don't want to and I REALLY want to give Jensen the benefit of the doubt, but there were some choices that made me go HUH? Like when Dean takes time out of chasing down a volatile and off the rails Cas to ogle a girl for no reason. Was that a directing choice? Was that in the script? Why was that moment there? What did it mean? That Dean can't even keep his head together in the middle of a crisis? I didn't like that moment at all and wondered why it was there. I don't know enough about the business to know if that is a directing thing or a writer thing or what? Still there is only so much even a talented director can do with a steaming pile of poo.

Meh episode. Just wanted to make a comment about Sam not telling Dean about the infection. Given that Dean tricked Sam into angel possession last time he was dying, I can understand why he didn't say anything to Dean. He was probably afraid of what Dean might do this time. After all, Dean has sold his soul and gone to hell and tricked Sam into angel possession (neither of which Sam wanted Dean to do BTW). Sam was protecting himself. That was the right move to make given the circumstances, IMO.

Oh boy... even grading on a BIG curve for these writers, the best I can say is mediocre. It just fell flat all around.

1. What do you think Amara’s destiny is?Not so sure she wants to replace God, more to tear it all down. Either that, or to wear nice headphones while sitting at her PC munching on souls. She is supposed to be ammoral so I guess we'll see. We had a reference to the Big Empty by Billie the Reaper in episode 2; wondering if the Darkness/Amara is the Big Empty.

2. Why is Rowena trying to recruit for the Mega Coven?I'm with Alice; have lost interest in this.

3. What will become of the burgeoning alliance between the dissatisfied demons and angels?I'd like to see it go somewhere but it's doubtful.

4. Now that Castiel is healed, will he go after Metatron so he can get his cool car back?At some point I think they'll all look to Metatron for some answers.

5. Will Dean ever share his disturbing visions of Amara with Sam?I think we'll get some coming clean in the Baby episode next week.

6. What did Amara mean about feeling only emptiness when she eats the souls?I agree with, and cannot improve upon Alice's answer so I'll quote her here - "Human souls are empty. They are always longing for something, wanting something. She can consume every soul on earth and won't be satisfied. It's kind of like eating a bag of carrots when you want chocolate cake."

Oh great... now I want some chocolate cake for breakfast.

7. Wasn't Ackles wonderful, yet again, as a director?Kind of tough to make a silk purse of a sow's ear; I guess he did the best he could with the script he was given. If he's going to continue directing the 3rd episode of each season (first episode shot), he should hire his own writers.

Leave your thoughts, ideas, questions, emotions, etc. here!

Likes -The angel and demon tossing back a few at the bar, complaining about their bosses and office politics was funny. Is this alluding to the fact that heaven and hell will need to work together to stop The Darkness?

While the Amara stuff dragged on far too long, Crowley realizing that he was in over his head at the end of the episode was good. And did anyone else flashback to the Famine episode in Season 5 where Famine kept telling his demon caretakers "I'm Hungry". All Amara was missing is an old man Halloween face mask, a motorized wheelchair and an oxygen tank.

We found out that God only defeated The Darkness by tricking it, and it's pissed.

Sam's snarkiness was amusing.

Glad we're done with the Castiel rabid dog spell; that's played on long enough. I think the urgency of finding a cure would have made more sense if he had done some damage along the way, but it looks like they're just as afraid to go there with Castiel as they were with Dean in Season 10.

Dislikes -

Too much exposition, glacial pacing, bordering on campy at times.

The mega-coven line was kind of funny the first time around but let's not beat a dead-horse.

Why would Dean be upset that Sam agreed to kill Crowley as part of his deal with Rowena? Not breaking news - Crowley is a big bag of dicks.

This was a decent episode. Slower than the two first. Will watch it again because I can't focus at the moment that well. Jensen did a great job and like I said sometimes before. I don't care who writes the episodes even if I do agree some do it better. PIB was way way worse than this. I had no interest to that angel and demon in the bar or what ever. I liked the boys helping Cas and I hope Amara splits from Crowley although that bloodied dress was creepy. The boys using Dean as bait so Sam could cuff Rowena. Loved it. Both boys are keeping secrets so what is new? Don't like pointing fingers on either one. And I think Dean just had the mentality "We are even" now with Cas. You remember when he wanted Sam to hit him because Dean hit him? Same thing.

1. What do you think Amara’s destiny is?No idea yet, but I really do like the mystery behind the character.2. Why is Rowena trying to recruit for the Mega Coven?For me, she wants it for power but she also doesn't want to be alone. She wants a family around her. Family of witches and be a leader "mother" for them. Rowena is actually quite tragic character.3. What will become of the burgeoning alliance between the dissatisfied demons and angels?Hopefully Gadreel or Azazel kind of new ones? I want to toss the angel number three and demon number four cannon fodder out of the window.4. Now that Castiel is healed, will he go after Metatron so he can get his cool car back?I think it will be his job.5. Will Dean ever share his disturbing visions of Amara with Sam?To be continued, maybe or maybe not.6. What did Amara mean about feeling only emptiness when she eats the souls?I think nothing can satisfy her appetite. Maybe she needs something else to feel something?7. Wasn't Ackles wonderful, yet again, as a director? He is. Hopefully he will get to direct also other writers.

2. Why is Rowena trying to recruit for the Mega Coven?Can't you figure out the answer to this question? She wants power.

3. What will become of the burgeoning alliance between the dissatisfied demons and angels?Good question! Although terribly executed, the scene does suggest a cool story is on the horizon. 4. Now that Castiel is healed, will he go after Metatron so he can get his cool car back?I wish Castiel did not heal, and we could get rid of the character once and for all. However, since he isn't going to die anytime soon, at least kill off Metatron for us.

5. Will Dean ever share his disturbing visions of Amara with Sam?Yes!

6. What did Amara mean about feeling only emptiness when she eats the souls?Who cares? The Amara story is pathetic.

7. Wasn't Ackles wonderful, yet again, as a director?This was not the episode to showcase his talents. Frankly, I'd be furious if I were Jensen that they assigned me such a terribly dull and pointless episode to direct.

Wow, lots of negativity!! This wasn't as good as the first two episodes but I didn't think it was terrible by any means. I don't pay attention to who writes which episodes, so I don't know what episodes these guys were responsible for in the past- although I'm sure the hate towards them is at least somewhat merited, considering a lot of episodes in the last couple seasons have been lackluster...

Personally, (despite hating the concept of TD from last year's finale) I am really enjoying the story arc this season. Adult Amara is very attractive, and that's always a positive. I feel like the Crowley/Amara scenes were the interesting ones, while the arc of curing Cas was, indeed, a little slow. It is what it is though, I'm enjoying this season and hoping it just gets better. -----And as far as the brothers keeping secrets- we all just have to accept that this will always happen, and always manage to come up as an issue between them for the sake of "tension." ...maybe they'll learn to be open with each other for the series finale...

. What do you think Amara’s destiny is?To lose to the Winchesters, possible assist by a combo of Heaven/Hell....as for what her motives will be? I have ideas but i'm tired of throwing out wild guesses, just going to sit back and see where it goes until I have more information to work with. Amara seems to be following the Lucifer route though, in regards to "sympathy for the Devil" vibes. She probably isn't around to just destroy Creation....I hope not anyway, that would be a let down.

2. Why is Rowena trying to recruit for the Mega Coven?She needs a purpose if she's going to be on the show, yeah? Seems obvious from her character traits though that she wants all the attention on her, to be a part of something, be fawned over, blah blah blah...She is growing on me at least.

3. What will become of the burgeoning alliance between the dissatisfied demons and angels?I'm thinking they are laying the tracks for Heaven and Hell combining forces to defeat the Darkness. Only logical reason (as a writer) to include this scene.

4. Now that Castiel is healed, will he go after Metatron so he can get his cool car back?Well, yeah. He has to do something this season and staying with the boys has never been how SPN rolls.

5. Will Dean ever share his disturbing visions of Amara with Sam?I don't see how it would come up organically. Something will happen that alludes to a connection between Dean and Amara though, and after Sam confronts Dean, Dean will tell him. Tends to be how it goes.

6. What did Amara mean about feeling only emptiness when she eats the souls?Alice answered this definitively. Amara is basically continuing her remark on God's "Work" (humans.) We don't live in Paradise. Life is hard. Amara eats the souls and experiences the feelings of pain one experiences through life. Also, eating demons could very well affect what she is "tasting" as far as humanity goes..

7. Wasn't Ackles wonderful, yet again, as a director? Honestly it didn't even register that this was his episode to direct. I may have a different opinion upon rewatch, but I didn't notice anything spectacular or horrible. Jensen is awesome, but I won't sit here and say ten minutes in i was like "oh yeah this has Ackles fingerprints all over it!"

....Okay on to the next one..which i'm guessing the Impala is featured heavily in by the comments i've read here....I really do my best to avoid all spoilers..:P

To begin with, Bookdal, I found your entire summary of the episode HIGHLY entertaining and may have enjoyed it more than the episode. I enjoyed your entire, at times satirical editorial and the following really cracked me up and were true! Sorry to repeat but so worth it!

In the Black Darkness Metaphor Hole, Dean gets lost in thought. Sam jars him out of the Darkness hypnosis and Cas notes that Baby Amara Damien is a bad thing waiting to happen./quote]Quote:

Back in Captain Hellaroo Dungeon, Crowley’s Jane Eyre says Amara is a quick study. Daddy Warbucks Crowley soothes the young Amara from the big bad God who locked her away.

Quote:

Rowena is continuing her AVON :) recruitment for the Mega Coven when Crowley’s minions try to kill her.

Cas wakes up and he explains his blackout was his inability to control the spell. Cas says he can hear angel radio and apparently they now use 20th century cop drama slang to describe their pursuit of Cas and the perp /quote]

Quote:

In a bar, somewhere in Earth, the Republicans and Democrats meet secretly…oh, okay, it’s a demon and an angel. ... So in this episode SuperBureaucracy the middle management supernatural beings discuss how to form a union.

Quote:

Back at the bunker, Castiel finds target audience porn on the boys’ laptop and then is seized again.

(perhaps by the porn).

Quote:

In the Hell headquarters, tiny Amara is eating souls so quickly you’d think she was training for the New York Marathon.

Quote:

Crowley, meanwhile, is pondering a diorama of the galaxy.

PRICELESS!

What do you think Amara’s destiny is?Her destiny is to be locked away in the big nothing/ the void by everyone with Sam and Dean leading the charge with the demons, Crowley, Angels, Castiel and hopefully Michael and Lucifer. I absolutely do not agree that she is a female God who can do a better job than God. I think she WANTS to show she is better than God but we know were those attempts have led. God is not MIA. This world is about free will and he steps back and allows the choices. He also intervened when he had to do something to put his best players back on the board. God will have a role in this season.

Why is Rowena trying to recruit for the Mega Coven?She wants petty revenge for the centuries of her banishment. Her power grab attempt, as written makes her look like she is recruiting for a high school cheer-leading squad and she wants to be captain because they kicked her off the team. Her recruits were all MEAN GIRLS. So over that. It was a campy parody. I had so hoped that she was going to be truly menacing this season. She is reduced to annoying petty prattle and “tattle tales on Sam” Please Sam, put her, okay me out of my misery! Remember when witches were really powerful, scary and completely creeped out both Dean and us?

What will become of the burgeoning alliance between the dissatisfied demons and angels?It is the start of the needed alliance. I do not know how yet and the corporate approach to heaven and hell needs a facelift.

Now that Castiel is healed, will he go after Metatron so he can get his cool car back?Castiel and the boys will look for Metatron, because he got away and because he may have answers. He may also surface on his own.

Will Dean ever share his disturbing visions of Amara with Sam?I think yes, but he is first trying to recall and get a handle on it himself.

What did Amara mean about feeling only emptiness when she eats the souls?She herself is the big empty and nothing will fill her. God created human souls so she finds them dissatisfying. Human souls still remain all powerful. They are pure LIGHT, God's most perfect Creation, beautiful and full of potential.

Wasn't Ackles wonderful, yet again, as a director?Yes, but he needed better material this time around.

Seriously that was good. I was going to ask if you were a writer and instead went to your bio. Your a writing teacher.... of course you are and I imagine you are published. Well thank you for sharing with the class here and I look forward to more of your work.

Once again, I liked the episode. It had some serious cringe-worthy crap (FortuneNookie and random girl dissing Dean), but I was highly entertained.

1. What do you think Amara’s destiny is?To destroy God's universe and make her own because she thinks his isn't very good and she's pissed at him.

2. Why is Rowena trying to recruit for the Mega Coven?She want's to be the new high witch for all the witches. What fun is having all that power if you can't show it off? Besides, she needs people to watch her back with Crowley trying to kill her.

3. What will become of the burgeoning alliance between the dissatisfied demons and angels?They'll eventually have to work together but we may not see another scene of the rank and file.

4. Now that Castiel is healed, will he go after Metatron so he can get his cool car back?Absolutely. He's the Scribe of God and Cas has his Grace. I'd definitely TRY for negotiations. And get back the demon tablet. Metatron is too much of a wildcard to let run about on his own. And he escaped from Cas, so Cas needs to get him. AND HIS RIDE. I think Dean needs to fix it up with better shocks, an engine tune-up, and maybe add ABS (if possible).

5. Will Dean ever share his disturbing visions of Amara with Sam?I expect his connection to be "outted" by someone else by NLT fall finale.

6. What did Amara mean about feeling only emptiness when she eats the souls?I think she finds "creation" (which is what God is all about) unsatisfying. Since the souls are from God's power I think they taste like creation. Death called The Darkness an amoral destructive force. So while the souls are power, they are not her flavor.

7. Wasn't Ackles wonderful, yet again, as a director?Yes. Many excellent scenes. Loved the little purse toss and the negotiations w/ Rowena. Wasn't a fan of the "chase" scene. Loved every scene with Amara. She was a well-cast actress and he got good work out of her. Perfect non-committal facial expressions. Tough to pull off such a complex perspective at such a young age.

I know many of you are unhappy with the episode but I really liked it. I loved the boys in unison "NO!"s during the roadtrip with Rowena "Shall we have a wee sing-song?" I love having Team Free Will back together and planning. Yes, they had a lot of exposition but this episode sets up the rest of the first half of the season. So they basically had to name-check pretty much all the players and status where they were at. I was fine with the data dump.

I have no problem with Dean feeling the guilt. It's his way. At least he didn't bury it completely. I thought seeking "penance" by not being healed was a very Cas thing to do. It may not be logical to the outsider but it's a way for Dean to process his feelings of culpability. I think he feels he was foolish for taking on the Mark and by kicking up that ant hill, he started the sequence of events which led to The Darkness being released. I KNOW it's not all on him but this is how Dean-logic works. And you can talk to him until you are blue in the face, only HE can forgive himself. Frankly I think he's glad Cas beat him up - it evens the scales a bit for him (again, DEAN-logic ... not my logic).

Aside from the "Mega. Coven." malarkey, there was nothing wrong with this script. Nothing. OK, maybe we could have learned Rowena's compliance when healing Cas was because Sam's gun had "Witch killing bullets", in a little more of a ... shit, what's the word? umm ...Fuck it. That was pretty crap. hahaha

If you were to read the episode's transcript, everything else should have delivered.

- Crowley's conversations with Amara, and also his Demon subjects? Excellent. Nothing over the top. Wittiness was brief and not overused. Classic Crowley, not Crowley the Caricature. He's been gone awhile.

- the brothers scenes together, and as they interacted with Cas and Rowena were the same. Nothing was over the top. Subdued emotions, and they really seemed to be clicking together.

- I liked the pacing of this episode. I was worried it was going to be a MOTW, and shift direction from the momentum of the first two eps. What we got was a nice slow burn, answering a few questions; moving Metatron's search along; getting the decoder back; healing Cas. It was nice to have those things without also having to deal with a full-blown action episode chock full of nothing, just because.

Where things went wrong were how those scenes, and the dialogue, were executed and presented.

First and foremost. The tawdry acting and portrayal of Rowena has reached a new high. I cringe every time she speaks. Nothing throws you out of an experience more than bad over-acting, and she delivers, in spades.

Speaking of bad acting, after 10 seasons, I think Supernatural has well & truly tapped the well of c-list Canadian actors. Time for a plan B. Every Witch was face-palmingly atrocious (save for the younger of the 3 in the episodes intro, on the left of the screen). The first Nanny Demon was trying way to hard, though the other guy was half OK.

The only actor that even remotely held his/her own on screen, was the Demon in the cafe that slotted that Witch. He was the first half-menacing Demon we've had since Crowley slit an Angel's throat and gave its grace to Cas a season or two back.

And what happened to the production values on this show? The interrogation scene, of the Witch in the Police Station? It looked like a set from an In Living Colour skit.

Worst of all - and I say this knowing full well the wrath I may get from those with Angelic-Jensen blinders on - the shot choices, compositions, and scene setups.

An episode like this, with its slow pace; no major action; no overly significant plot maneuvers; no major character deaths or introductions; approx a dozen filler characters that either died or won't be seen again - to keep your attention, it needed half it's story told visually. It needed mood and atmosphere. It gave none.

A Demon and an Angel walk into a bar ... that should have been a great scene. The dialogue was there. The significance of that encounter should have been more than enough of for the narrative. Instead? haha. Those forward zooms. Good Metatron were they atrocious. I think I saw that done once on a reality TV show when two people were going head to head in a competition. That's how they introduced them.

Fuck it. I'm ranting like an idiot at this point, and I got bucket loads more to go.

This show needs someone with creative talent behind the camera, not people that are simply technically proficient. That's not a jab aimed soley at Jensen. It's something this show has lacked for some time.

First and foremost. The tawdry acting and portrayal of Rowena has reached a new high. I cringe every time she speaks. Nothing throws you out of an experience more than bad over-acting, and she delivers, in spades.

Russ, I agree that Rowena was terrible in this ep, but I thought much of the over the top acting was caused by the silly lines she was given. It reminded me of why I couldn't stand the character throughout the first half of last season. In almost all of her scenes with Crowley she was given cringe-inducing dialogue and scenes and she ran with it and had cringe-worthy delivery. When she was finally removed from Crowley's orbit I thought the character was much better- I loved her snark and her displays of emotion seemed more restrained. I agree that the witch scenes were made even worse by the other three actresses, who I thought were pretty bad. But the worst part of the ep to me was Amara. I don't know if it was the writing, the acting, the directing, or all three, but all I could think was "THIS is the big bad Darkness?" She exuded none of the air of mystery or restrained power of smoke Amara. She sounded like many a petulant little girl who wants dinner RIGHT NOW! and it totally deflated the episode I thought. I thought the newborn baby was a better actress and seemed more menacing. :) I'm desperately hoping they go a different route with teen/20 something Amara or I fear we're heading into Leviathan territory where the big bad is a big joke.